From home to early childhood education: beliefs, language ideologies and OPOL Claudine Kirsch
Family language planning has been studied frequently within bilingual families. By contrast, few examine language ideologies and language management of multilingual parents or families in multilingual contexts. In this presentation, I combine the data of three studies carried out with Luxembourgish parents in the UK (Kirsch, 2012) and parents of a range of backgrounds in
Luxembourg (Gogonas and Kirsch, 2018; Kirsch, 2018). To understand parents’ language ideologies, I briefly delve into a few myths about bilingualism, particularly the believes that the one-person-one- language approach is best, and that translanguaging impedes language learning. Next, we will look at the differences between the language ideologies of these families as well as influencing factors, most importantly personal language learning experiences, migration histories, societal discourses on the values of languages, and education policies. Focusing on language management, it will become clear that most parents believed in and tried out OPOL. The observations and interviews showed, however, that they shifted their approach over time. I will close by relating parents’ perceptions of good language education to monolingual and multilingual practices in early childhood education in Luxembourg, showing how parents and educators can influence each other.
Gogonas, N and Kirsch, C. (2018): ’In this country my children are learning two of the most important languages in Europe’: ideologies of language as a commodity among Greek migrant families in Luxembourg. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 21(4), 426-438.
Kirsch, C. (2018). Dynamic interplay of language policy, beliefs and pedagogy in a nursery class in Luxembourg. Language and Education 32(5), 444-461.
Kirsch, C. (2012). Using storytelling to teach vocabulary in language lessons – does it work?.Language Learning Journal, 44(1), 33-51.
